How BuddyBackup Works

How BuddyBackup Backs Up Your Data

BuddyBackup lets you back up your files to your friends, family and colleagues'
computers for free.

This means you get safe and secure online and "off-site" backups of your data without
having to pay a third party company.

The following diagram illustrates how BuddyBackup works:

Saving Your Files

Your files are constantly monitored for changes (see 1). When BuddyBackup
sees a changed file, it takes a snapshot of it (see 2). This is done efficiently
using an advanced system which means that only the changes within a file are
saved (see 3). The technical term for this process is Binary Incremental Backup.
For example, if you add a few paragraphs to a large Word document and save, only
those changes are saved.

Encryption

The next step is that your files are encrypted (made secret) (see 4). This
is done before sending on the internet which means that no else can read your files,
not even your buddies!

Backing Up

BuddyBackup sends the updated files to your buddies (see 5) over the
internet. Remember that only changes within your files are sent (see above).

BuddyBackup uses advanced Peer-to-Peer technology to ensure you can connect even
if your buddies are behind a firewall or router.

If no buddy is currently online, BuddyBackup will keep track of the changes and
back them up later.

BuddyBackup uses your internet connection smartly by only using a trickle of your
bandwidth when you're using your computer. This means you can continue to work while
BuddyBackup is backing up your files.

BuddyBackup doesn't use scheduled times to do the backup - your files are backed
up the moment they change meaning you'll never lose a moments work in the event
of disaster.

After You've Backed Up

Your backups will continue to sit safely on your buddies' computers.

BuddyBackup regularly checks that your buddies still have your backups. If it discovers
a problem, it will automatically backup your files to a different buddy instead.
This means you're safe even if a buddy uninstalls BuddyBackup or has a computer
failure.

You can also setup BuddyBackup to keep multiple backup copies of your files so you're
extra safe. By default, 2 copies of your files are kept, spread among your
buddies.

Restoring your files

If you have a disaster, you can easily recover your files by running BuddyBackup
from your new computer.